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If she could have seen Asa at thatout loud in sheer delight

How brilliant she was How fierce Asa enjoyed fighting with Verlainetime with anyone else

He wanted to watch her from a distance, but he made himself pull back If he paid any ht actually becomefond of her That would be disastrous First of all, she was doo-term relationship prospects there

Second, he couldn’t save her frole room for him to betray Elizabeth, he could never betray the One Beneath Rescuing Verlaine froer would be utterly forbidden If he broke that rule, he would be forced to endure the worst torirl could be worth that, not even one so daring and delightful as Verlaine

Even one that made him feel as if he would find it painful when she died

Yet Asa lingered awhile, watching her anyway

He was still in a good h the halls of Rod into step beside him couldn’t dim his smile "Don’t tell me," he said "You just can’t wait to watch a documentary on Albert Einstein"

"You know I have oes your task?"

"Let’s see" Asa nodded toward the far end of the hall, where Nadia, Mateo, and Verlaine were all walking in

They ether But even though the three of the at one another, Asa could tell--there was a bit of a chill in the air that had nothing to do with autumn Mateo didn’t have his arm around Nadia Nadia couldn’t quite meet Verlaine’s eyes And Verlaine crossed her arroups passed

"The suspicion is still subtle," Elizabeth said "They doubt themselves more than one another But I can see that the seeds have been planted What next, beast?"

"Watch and wait" He irew all over town, many of them so old they had pushed up the sidewalks in front of the stones into half a dozen planes and angles The siven tirow

She asked, "What did you tell the of all The truth"

I laid out three possible ways to destroy you Any one of theht work All I have to do is hope at least one of them sees it The faster they’re driven apart, the faster they can stop focusing on one another and go after you Your work and your undoing, and I ht You’ll be sorry you called lanced over his shoulder at the all three of thens of discord Instead he only had eyes for the way Verlaine’s long, silver hair flowed down her back

Quietly he repeated, "Everything I said was true"

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